Cheap summer getaways in Minnesota

No money, no problem: Here are 20 great vacations that are easy on the wallet.

In summer, it’s not as hard as you’d think to take a fun trip that doesn't cost much.

Many of the great travel experiences in Minnesota can’t be bought, anyway — hiking amid
old-growth white pines, paddling through bluff country, listening to loons in the Boundary Waters.

A family of six can learn to camp and play in Lake Superior
waterfalls for $50. Hikers can find a bunk just off the Superior Hiking Trail near Grand Marais for $25, and a couple can stay in a camper cabin for $60, if not at a lake resort . . . wait, they can stay at a lake resort.

Here's our list of best cheap trips, most costing $100 or less per person, in 2018.

Most give you a roof over your head; the trips that require tent camping also include guides, meals and/or fun things to do.

At Baker Park Reserve in Maple Plain, a camper is just half an hour from downtown Minneapolis.

Cabin camping in a Minneapolis suburb

At the Baker Park Reserve Near-Wilderness Settlement
in Maple Plain, groups of up to eight
family or friends can rent one of eight rustic log cabins during special weekends.

They book up six months in advance, so plan ahead.

Family Camp weekend includes canoeing, archery, rock climbing and swimming.
Cost is $215 per cabin for two nights and includes one breakfast and
some beverages. Grandparent and Grandkids Camps include all meals, $250 per cabin.

Outdoor skills

Women in the outdoors

In 2018, it also includes a Sturgeon Fishing Trip to Lake of the Woods Aug. 10-12. Cost is $225, including motel lodgings and two days of guided boat fishing.

Becoming an outdoor family

To combat the rise of nature-deficit disorder, many state DNRs and
nature centers are sponsoring Becoming an Outdoor Family weekends,
where families can try all kinds of fun things: archery, fishing,
shooting, orienteering, hiking, rock climbing and geocaching.

In the scenic bluffs of southeast Minnesota, Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center near Lanesboro is offering a weekend June 15-17 and Aug. 3-5 in 2018.
Cost is $90 per person, or $335 for a family of
four, and includes meals and
lodgings.

For $10 per person, you also can stay Friday night and have Saturday brunch.

Bike trips

An organized bicycle tour is a great way to see the countryside and make
a lot of friends, too. Many of the best are fund-raising rides, and if
you raise the minimum, you pay only the registration fee.

Cross-state on the Ride Across Minnesota

The well-organized, family-friendly Ride Across Minnesota, formerly known as TRAM, is July 15-20 in 2018 and benefits the Minnesota
chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

This
year, the route goes through southern Minnesota, starting and ending in St. Peter on the Minnesota River. Overnight stops are in Northfield, Owatonna, Waseca and Mankato.

Registration is $50, and riders must
raise at least $300. Riders are treated to bountiful food at official
rest stops, about every 10 miles, and can buy food from various civic
groups at the evening stop, usually a city park or fairground. There's
also evening entertainment.

Paddling

From the Root to the Mississippi

Every year, members of the non-profit Midwest River Expeditions, based in Dubuque, Iowa, choose a different river for their Great River Rumble.

In 2018, it's on the Des Moines River from Keosauqua in southeast Iowa, to the Mississippi, with take-out in Hannibal, Mo., July 28-Aug. 4.

Cost of $150 includes camping with showers, baggage shuttle, power-boat escort, entertainment and farewell party. Shuttle from the end point to starting point is $25 apiece for people and boats.

Relaxing on the Root River

In Minnesota's bluff country, Lanesboro is known for paddling as well as bicycling.

Anyone can camp in Sylvan Park,
right in the middle of everything, or in the Riverview campground, above the dam.

There are showers in the Community
Center, and on Saturday mornings, there's a farmers market where you
can buy Amish pastries for breakfast. Camping is first-come,
first-served, $20 for tent sites, and $30 for RVs.

Lake resorts

A classic in Bemidji

In the northern Minnesota town of Bemidji, there's only one cottage resort left on the shores of Lake Bemidji.

It's
Ruttger's Birchmont Lodge, run by the Ruttger family since 1937. The
small rooms in its 1921 lodge overlook the lake and beach and are the
region's best lake deal on weekdays, often $75 or less. The best deals come at the last minute.

Rates include a large breakfast buffet and use
of the facilities, which include an indoor pool. Lake Bemidji State Park
and the Paul Bunyan State Trail are just around the corner.

Fun in town

Hike and bike from West Duluth

In Duluth, Canal Park gets all
the tourist love, but there’s actually more to do in West Duluth –
paddling the St. Louis River, bicycling the Willard Munger State Trail,
walking and birding on the Western Waterfront Trail and hiking the Duluth sections of the Superior Hiking Trail.

You can avoid the high rates of Canal Park hotels by staying at the Willard Munger Inn,
where guests get shuttles to trailheads in Duluth, free use of
canoes and bicycles and a free pass to the Lake Superior Zoo, across the
street.

Playing on Lake Winona

In the southeast Minnesota town of Winona, you can check out kayaks, canoes and stand-up paddleboards from Lake Lodge Recreation Center on the east end of Lake Winona. You just need a $16 yearly membership.

Hostels and bunkhouses

A renovated barn near Grand Marais

In summer and fall, Grand Marais is packed with tourists, and it can be hard to find a room at any price. One new option: the Hungry Hippie Farm hostel in a refurbished barn.

It's 10 miles east of town and up County Road 14, just a mile off the Superior Hiking Trail. Rates are $25 for a single bunk and $59 for a private room, including linens, towels and morning coffee. In one room, pets are allowed for an extra $20.

A hostel in Itasca State Park

It's just off
Lake Itasca, across from the canoe landing and sports rental, and it has 31 beds in six bedrooms, common rooms and a large, well-designed kitchen.

For members of Hostelling International, the cost is $26 per person ($18 for youths up to 14) in a six-bed room, or $88 for a private room for four people. Non-members pay $3 more. The cost includes linen and towels. Reserve as early as
possible at 218-266-3415.

BWCA from a bunkhouse

Two resorts on the edge of the
Boundary Waters Canoe Area allow guests to stay for $22-$25 per person
in bunkhouses while taking day trips into the wilderness or just
relaxing on a lake.

At the end of the Gunflint Trail, Tuscarora Lodge
on Round Lake rents nine bunkhouses in the woods, each sleeping four to
nine people, that share a shower house. Cost is $22 per person, plus $7 for a shower with towel.
Each bunkhouse is rented to only one party at a time, 800-544-3843.

Twenty-two miles east of Ely, Kawishiwi Lodge and Outfitters is on
Lake One, an entry point into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness. The resort has two bunkhouses, each with full kitchen
and bath and one with screened porch, where beds go for $35 per
person, with a $140 minimum.

One bunkhouse sleeps nine and one sleeps
eight, and each is rented to only one party at a time. 218-365-5487.

At the group center in Whitewater State Park, the Minnesota Rovers get ready for bicycling.

Going with a group

Traveling with an
outdoors club is one of the best deals you can get. You need to be a
member to go on overnight trips, but you don’t need to live in the town
where the club is based; you can meet the group at the destination.

Outdoors clubs

One club known for its penny-pinching ways is the Minnesota Rovers Outdoors Club,
based in the Twin Cities. It offers camping trips to Minnesota’s North
Shore for as little as $15; you bring your own food, but you can borrow
gear from the club if you're a member.

Membership is $25, $10 for those who live outside the Twin Cities metro area.

It also offers beginner’s trips to the
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for $85-$100. A few spots on trips often are saved for new members, but watch the trip list and sign up ASAP.

For more
about traveling with outdoors clubs around the region, see Join the club.

Lodges in state parks

Six state parks — Whitewater near Rochester, Sibley near New London, Lake Carlos near Alexandria, St. Croix near Hinckley, Flandrau near New Ulm and Lake Shetek near Walnut Grove — rent large group centers where indoor lodgings can cost as little as $5 per person per night.

They're very popular for summer weekends, so be ready when reservations open.